Sunlight for a tropical/Cichlid tank?

Yep that's fine. I on the other hand love to have direct sunlight on my tank. The plants love it even more and i feel the fish will also benefit from the vit D its getting. Controlling algae is easy and IMO worth the effort in exchange for the sunlight. I use a proper UV light and snails and lots of algae eating fish. If this is not enough you could add chemicals to control, just make sure it wouldn't kill the bacteria in you tank and should be a last resort.